Did Dustin Johnson pull out of tournament to hang out with Paulina Gretzky? (pic)

Dustin Johnson, the No. 16-ranked player in the world, pulled out of this week’s Bridgestone Invitational, a $9 million World Golf Championships event held at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

Johnson reportedly cited the reason for his withdrawal as “personal,” according to Ohio.com, but a photograph posted by fiancée Paulina Gretzky to her Instagram account and since deleted adds a certain level of intrigue to the already cryptic reason provided by Johnson regarding his decision to pull out.

Gretzky allegedly posted the above photo of featuring her working on her putting stroke with a barefooted Johnson looking on along with the message, “Best Caddy Ever,” according to a HuffPo article.

The photo originally was posted by Gretzky to Instagram on Monday, but it is not clear exactly when she took it down. It stands to reason that she did so at some point after Johnson announced his withdrawal from the tournament in order to remove any appearances of Johnson choosing to play caddy for his gal instead of focusing on his game and competing in a big-time tourney.

But if it is true that Johnson preferred to spend some time with his betrothed instead of playing golf, it’s hard to blame the guy.

To wit:

Although if that is the case, let’s hope the trend does not continue. The PGA Tour does not need such a young and talented golfer like Dustin Johnson foregoing such a promising career by playing the role of John Lennon to Paulina Gretzky’s Yoko Ono, in a manner of speaking.